How can you trace minerals from supernovas to our teeth and bones? Isn’t the calcium that make up our bones produced during our gestation? How is that connected to a supernova from potentially millions of years ago?
In: Biology
Imagine elements like Lego bricks. Let’s say calcium is a 2×2 white brick. When stars explode, it’s so hot that matter, or “plastic” for this metaphor, fuses together to make a new permanent brick. A star exploded a long time ago, fusing a bunch of these new 2×2 bricks.
As time goes on, these bricks get linked up to other bricks of various types. These are various molecules that contain calcium, but aren’t like bones and teeth yet. Your digestive system has enzymes and other processes that look for those specific Lego bricks linked to others, and pull them out. Then the body puts those bricks together in a way that forms bones and teeth.
I don’t remember my biochem enough to give more details about the actual molecules themselves, but this feels ELI5 enough.
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